This morning brings gifts: along with the Cannes lineup we’ve got new trailers for some of the scheduled films, and among them are two new looks at Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Only God Forgives. Ryan Gosling stars in the Thai-set western as a minor gangster who is commanded by his domineering mother (Kristen Scott Thomas) to bring his brother’s killer to justice.

The first trailer here is quite a lot like the debut footage we saw not long ago, but it is more explicit, and features more dialogue that explains the story and does more to suggest that Kristen Scott Thomas is scary as hell. Some of the dialogue in the first trailer isn’t subtitled, but I think you’ll get the idea.

Both are slightly not safe for work thanks to language and violence. Read More »

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The first trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn‘s new film, Only God Forgives, promised a neon-lit blast of strange, serious action. Ryan Gosling plays a small-time gangster in Bangkok who seeks to avenge the killing of his brother as his domineering crime-boss mother (Kristen Scott Thomas) pushes him into action.

Now we’ve got a teaser poster that follows through on the trailer’s promise. It is decorated with a stylized neon logo and dragon face. Inside the beast’s mouth a tagline is almost hidden: “time to meet the devil.” We know that Refn’s character runs up against a corrupt former cop, and that the cop styles himself as a local god. Does that make Gosling’s character the devil, or is the former cop both god and devil?

We’ve only just seen the first trailer from Nicolas Winding Refn‘s new film Only God Forgives, in which Ryan Gosling plays a man looking to avenge his brother’s murder in Bangkok. (There appears to be a bit more to the story than that, but we’ll keep it simple for now.)

Turns out there has been a nice little video piece about the making of the film floating around for a few months. In a segment from the documentary N.W.R., we find the writer/director in Bangkok preparing to make Only God Forgives. He explains a bit more of the story — more even than the trailer really gives away — and also describes some of the difficulties of making the movie in Thailand.

But the most interesting bit is perhaps the segment towards the end, where Refn is in his hotel room putting together the script. That doesn’t sound like a great thing to look at, but his explanation of his writing process, combined with the view into his working space, is somewhat unique.

(Note: This headline has been altered from the original “Nicolas Winding Refn Races to Finish ‘Only God Forgives’ Script in Behind the Scenes Footage” in order to avoid any suggestion that Refn is working to finish the script now.)

Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Drive) has employed images of serious violence in the past; his first team-up with Ryan Gosling featured both intimidating threats and gory action. Now we’ve got the first footage from their second film pairing, Only God Forgives, a violent revenge-thriller “western” set in Bangkok.

Gosling plays a boxer and drug smuggler pressed into vengeful action when his brother is killed. This trailer isn’t terribly gory, but it is laden with the heavy air of things just about to go really, really wrong. The color in the images, combined with the music and a sense of floating, suggest that this is a story that descends into the same psychological space as Bronson. This time, however, Refn has more resources at his disposal.

And yet, more than anything else, it’s the opening dialogue from Kristen Scott Thomas, playing the mother of Gosling’s character, that gives me chills. Compared to that, Gosling’s invitation at the end of the trailer seems almost polite.

From the instant the film was released, the soundtrack to Drive became a cult phenomenon. The mix of catchy pop-rock and the pulse-pounding score by Cliff Martinez gave Nicolas Winding-Refn‘s intense thriller an unmistakably cool feeling. That’s the kind of feeling Mondo loves, and almost exactly one year ago, they announced they’d be releasing the soundtrack on limited edition vinyl with artwork by Tyler Stout. Finally, that artwork can be revealed.

Below, check out the full artwork for the vinyl and poster, and find out when you can get both. Read More »

Last year, we got the surprising but not unwelcome news that Nicolas Winding Refn would be revamping Barbarella for the small screen. Now he’s being joined by some other big cinematic names. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have co-written the last five Bond movies including Skyfall, have just signed on to write the script. Hit the jump to read more.

That didn’t last long. Right at the end of last year word hit that Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Bronson) had taken up interest in directingDenzel Washington in The Equalizer. The film is meant to reinvent the ’80s TV show that starred Edward Woodward as a former black ops agent who begins to work pro bono for people in need. He creates a classified ad: “Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer.” The script is by Richard Wenk and an April 11, 2014 release date is already penciled in.

If the idea of Refn making this sort of big, broad action thriller seemed a bit strange, you could look at it this way: a Denzel movie is pretty much guaranteed to sell, and we’ve known that Refn had ambitions to make studio pictures, if only on his own terms. If he and the actor (who would certainly have a lot of input on the film) could see eye to eye, then it might be a scenario that worked out for everyone.

But things didn’t work out, and Refn has reportedly already exited the project. Read More »

Here’s a quick, rather low-quality teaser clip from Nicolas Winding Refn‘s new film, Only God Forgives. The twenty seconds or so of footage shows star Ryan Gosling and co-star Kristen Scott Thomas in their roles in Refn’s Thai-set revenge film. Just what is going on here? Difficult to tell, exactly, but even this brief look shows the same blend of cool command and potential violence that characterized Refn and Gosling’s last outing, Drive.

See the footage below; it probably won’t stay online for long. Read More »

When Denzel Washingtonattaches himself to a script, it gets directors interested. That’s how Robert Zemeckis came aboard Flight, and now Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn has joined Washington on The Equalizer, a loose adaptation of the ’80s TV show.

Washington will play a former covert operative who, in an attempt to atone for previous sins, offers up his skills in the classified section of a newspaper stating: “Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer.” Richard Wenk wrote the screenplay and production is set to start in the Spring of 2013, aimed at an April 11, 2014 release. Read more after the jump. Read More »